Planning group OKs East Cobb development

The Cobb Planning Commission gave their approval to a 21-home, $30 million to $35 million development on Woodlawn Drive in east Cobb on Tuesday.

The Planning Commission recommended approving the zoning request in a 5-0 vote. The matter now heads to the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Oct. 16.

Attorney John Moore, who represents developer Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, said construction could begin within 90 days, with the 6.6-acre development complete within a year.

“What we’ve found is that homes located in Walton, Pope and Lassiter school districts are moving as fast as you can put them up,” Moore said. “People realize that there’s no more land left, so we expect these to go very quickly because of the school districts.”

Moore said the four-bedroom and larger homes would average $1 million each, ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet.

“These will be primarily people who want smaller houses but all the bells and whistles inside, which is a new trend,” he said. “They want really nice exteriors, stone, brick, all those features, and on the inside they want upgraded appliances, all your woodwork, granite countertops everyplace, tile everyplace, wine cellars.”

Property owners Wilce Frasier Jr. and Carol Hindman Butler are selling the land to Brooks Chadwick Capital, which will develop the subdivision’s infrastructure, selling the lots to a builder to construct the houses. The builder has not yet been chosen, he said.

Eric Jacobsen, first vice president of the East Cobb Civic Association, said his group was not opposed to the development but provided the commission with a letter offering a few recommendations, such as installing a sidewalk along Woodlawn.

Neighbor Virginia Gregory, who held a community meeting about the subdivision at her home, said she will welcome the new neighbors but wanted to avoid compounding any safety problems.

“Please keep in mind that we’re a block and a half from a middle school (Dickerson) with capacity of around 1,200 that stays at capacity and releases a flood of walkers every afternoon, and all the neighbors really appreciate walking,” Gregory said.

Moore said at the request of the neighbors, two large oak trees at the proposed development’s entrance would be saved, with $10,000 placed in an escrow account to be spent on replacing them if they died.

One of the stipulations in the Planning Commission’s recommendation is installing the Woodlawn sidewalk as requested.